Mind and the American Civil War: A Meditation on Lost Causes

by Lewis P. Simpson

Mind and the American Civil A Meditation on Lost Causes (Walter Lynwood Fleming Lectures in Southern History) Lewis P. Mind and the American Civil A Meditation on Lost Causes (Walter Lynwood Fleming Lectures in Southern History) Louisiana State University FIRST First Edition Thus, First Printing. Not price-clipped. Published by Louisiana State University Press, 1989. Octavo. Paperback. Book is very good with light spotting on page ends. Seller 354338 History

110 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1989

Reviews

[Miles Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simpson's meditation on the nature of American mind(s) is heady reading. He uses the work to deconstruct assumptions, generally those originating in New England, regarding assumptions about American history. Most notably, Simpson confronts the notion that the founding of the American republic was a secession from history. Both Jefferson and Emerson, the exemplars of respectively the southern and New England minds, saw the United States as removed from the processes of history playing out in the Old World. Emerson especially fascinated Simpson, who saw in Emerson a uniquely New England nationalism that played out the Emerson and his comrades sudden enthusiasm for the American union and federal government during the Civil War.